第二章

MR. Bennet was among the earliest of those who waited on Mr. Bingley. He had always intended to visit him, though to the last always assuring his wife that he should not go; and till the evening after the visit was paid, she had no knowledge of it. It was then disclosed in the following manner. Observing his second daughter employed in trimming a hat, he suddenly addressed her with,

"I hope Mr. Bingley will like it, Lizzy."

"We are not in a way to know what Mr. Bingley likes," said her mother resentfully, "since we are not to visit."

"But you forget, mama," said Elizabeth, "that we shall meet him at the assemblies, and that Mrs. Long has promised to introduce him."

"I do not believe Mrs. Long will do any such thing. She has two nieces of her own. She is a selfish, hypocritical woman, and I have no opinion of her."

"No more have I," said Mr. Bennet; "and I am glad to find that you do not depend on her serving you."

Mrs. Bennet deigned not to make any reply; but unable to contain herself, began scolding one of her daughters.

"Don't keep coughing so, Kitty, for heaven's sake! Have a little compassion on my nerves. You tear them to pieces."

"Kitty has no discretion in her coughs," said her father; "she times them ill."

"I do not cough for my own amusement," replied Kitty fretfully.

"When is your next ball to be, Lizzy?"

"To-morrow fortnight."

"Aye, so it is," cried her mother, "and Mrs. Long does not come back till the day before; so it will be impossible for her to introduce him, for she will not know him herself."

"Then, my dear, you may have the advantage of your friend, and introduce Mr. Bingley to her."

"Impossible, Mr. Bennet, impossible, when I am not acquainted with him myself; how can you be so teazing?"

"I honour your circumspection. A fortnight's acquaintance is certainly very little. One cannot know what a man really is by the end of a fortnight. But if we do not venture, somebody else will; and after all, Mrs. Long and her nieces must stand their chance; and therefore, as she will think it an act of kindness, if you decline the office, I will take it on myself."

The girls stared at their father. Mrs. Bennet said only, "Nonsense, nonsense!"

"What can be the meaning of that emphatic exclamation?" cried he. "Do you consider the forms of introduction, and the stress that is laid on them, as nonsense? I cannot quite agree with you there. What say you, Mary? for you are a young lady of deep reflection I know, and read great books, and make extracts."

Mary wished to say something very sensible, but knew not how.

"While Mary is adjusting her ideas," he continued, "let us return to Mr. Bingley."

"I am sick of Mr. Bingley," cried his wife.

"I am sorry to hear that; but why did not you tell me so before? If I had known as much this morning, I certainly would not have called on him. It is very unlucky; but as I have actually paid the visit, we cannot escape the acquaintance now."

The astonishment of the ladies was just what he wished; that of Mrs. Bennet perhaps surpassing the rest; though when the first tumult of joy was over, she began to declare that it was what she had expected all the while.

"How good it was in you, my dear Mr. Bennet! But I knew I should persuade you at last. I was sure you loved our girls too well to neglect such an acquaintance. Well, how pleased I am! and it is such a good joke, too, that you should have gone this morning, and never said a word about it till now."

"Now, Kitty, you may cough as much as you chuse," said Mr. Bennet; and, as he spoke, he left the room, fatigued with the raptures of his wife.

"What an excellent father you have, girls," said she, when the door was shut. "I do not know how you will ever make him amends for his kindness; or me either, for that matter. At our time of life, it is not so pleasant I can tell you, to be making new acquaintance every day; but for your sakes, we would do any thing. Lydia, my love, though you are the youngest, I dare say Mr. Bingley will dance with you at the next ball."

"Oh!" said Lydia stoutly, "I am not afraid; for though I am the youngest, I'm the tallest."

The rest of the evening was spent in conjecturing how soon he would return Mr. Bennet's visit, and determining when they should ask him to dinner.

--正文

Bennet老爷是最早的几个等着见Bingley先生的人。尽管他嘴上一直跟老婆说不想去，但是其实他一直打算去拜访他。一直到晚上Bennet老爷拜访完了，Bennet太太才知道实情。事情的经过时这样的：Bennet老爷正看着二女儿忙着整理帽子，就突然说：'Lizzy,我希望Bingley先生会喜欢这个帽子。'

她老妈突然就很生气，“我们根本不会知道Bingley先生喜欢什么，因为我们不会去拜访他.”

Elizabeth接着说：“妈妈你忘了么，我们会在舞会上见他一面，Long太太已经答应会介绍他给我们认识的。”

“我可不相信Long太太会做这种事!她自己还有两个侄女呢。她可是个自私，虚伪的女人，我对她可没有好印象”

“我也是,”Bennet老爷说道，“我很高兴你没指望着她帮你。”

Bennet太太忍住不接话，但是她又控制不好自己的情绪，于是就开始斥责她的女儿。

‘Kitty!老天爷，你可别一直这么咳嗽了。你可可怜可怜我的神经吧。你都把它们拆成碎片了。’

‘Kitty咳嗽也不看看时候，真是一点也不用心。’她老爸也接过嘴说。

‘我又不是咳嗽着玩。’Kitty急躁地说。

‘Lizzy，你下一场舞会时什么时候？’

‘从明天开始算，还有两个星期。’

‘奥，原来是这样，’Bennet太太又大叫着说,'Long太太到舞会的前一天才会回来，所以她不可能介绍Bingley先生，因为她自己还不认识他呢!'

‘那样的话，亲爱的，你就可以把你的这个朋友比下去，反过来把Bingley先生介绍给她呢!’

'不可能的，Bennet老爷，不可能的，我自己跟他还不熟悉呢。你怎么总是取笑我呢？'

'我很佩服你想的那么周到。认识一个人两周当然算不得什么。两周时间是没办法彻底了解一个人的。但是如果我们不冒险试一下，别人也会的。况且，Long太太和她的侄女们一定不会放过这个机会。如果你不愿做这件事，那么就我来做，Long太太还会觉得我们帮了她个忙！'Bennet老爷说道。

姑娘们突然都盯着她们的父亲。而Bennet太太则只在旁边说：“胡说八道！胡说八道!”

Bennet老爷大声说：“你吼那么大声干嘛？你觉得劳神想着如何介绍自己时胡说八道么？我可不能同意。Mary你觉得呢？你是个很有深度的姑娘，也喜欢读一些好书，还会做些笔记。你说说看”

Mary想说些有道理的话，但又不知道怎么说。

'趁Mary还在构思，'Bennet老爷接着说，“我们先说回到BIngley先生吧。”

“我讨厌Bingley先生！”Bennet太太又嚷起来了。

‘那我真的抱歉了，你为啥不早点跟我说呢？我今早要是知道的话，肯定不会去拜访他了。这可真是不走运啊！我都已经拜访过人家了，肯定时躲不过后面的见面了。’Bennet老爷说道。

姑娘们就和他期盼的一样吃惊！Bennet太太可能比其他人更要吃惊一些。但是开始的惊喜之后，Bennet太太就开始说她从一开始就猜到会是这样了。

‘你可真是个大救星，我亲爱的Bennet先生。我知道是我最后说服了你!我知道你很爱自己的姑娘，不可能放过这样的见面机会。我真是太开心了！你可真是跟我开了个大玩笑，早上就出去拜访过了，直到现在才跟我们说。’

‘Kitty，你现在可以想怎么咳嗽就怎么咳嗽了！’Bennet老爷说道。他一边说着，一边离开了房间，因为看到他太太欣喜若狂的样子觉得有些疲倦。

‘你看你们的爸爸多么棒，姑娘们，’Bennet太太说道，房门此时已经关上了，‘我不知道你们该怎么弥补他的一片好心，或者我该怎么弥补。姑娘们，我可以说我们的一生中，不会每天都很乐于结交新朋友。但是为了你们，我们愿意做任何事情。我亲爱的Lydia，虽然你最小，但是我敢说Bingley先生在下次舞会上，会和你跳舞的。’

'哎，我可不害怕。虽然我最小，但是我是姐妹里面最高的。'Lydia简洁的说

剩余的夜晚里，姑娘们都在猜测Bingley先生何时会回访Bennet老爷，同时也商讨着该在何时邀请他一起吃晚饭。